Finishing off 2023: Christmas and New Years Eve

 What have we been up to since Lyza's birthday?

We made gingerbread (actually graham cracker) houses

Henry was very focused when he was making his house

Henry had a lot of confidence by the end of the night

Look at those masterpieces

Kim and I had a delicious lunch date

Figgy got kind of silly

We visited with Santa Claus at the elementary school

Henry's fourth grade reading buddy got him a Christmas gift

We made sugar cookies

After Lyza's last day of school she got invited to a friend's house and they made gingerbread houses

Mason helped wrap caramels

More of Figgy's shenanigans

We visited Cat Tales Wildlife Center as a family. There were lots of cool animals. The first one you see is a beautiful tiger.

Check out that tongue

They had foxes

This is an arctic fox

This is a white Bengal tiger

There were several bobcats

This racoon had a lot of personality

There were lynx, notice how large it paws are

There were two black bears, the other one was a lighter brown color

There were several wolf dogs (cross breeds of dogs and wolves)

It was a chilly day so we warmed up a few times in the store, which also had animals in it

What a festive cat!

More wolves

This lynx jumped up to the top of its cage

This is an African serval

Another fox

They gave us a guided tour and taught us all about the different animals

This lynx is missing an eye

They switched out the black bear with his lighter cage mate and gave him a special holiday pumpkin

Here is a video of some of the animals, including the bear eating a pumpkin

We also decorated sugar cookies

On the 23rd we went skiing as a family. The drive out was really pretty.

Lyza's first time skiing since last season

Henry and Kim looking like pros

It was quite foggy

We got some cool skies later in the afternoon

The only time anyone slows down enough to get a picture is on the lift

Henry was so confident by the end that he had no problem cruising down the mountain on his own

Our drive home was so beautiful

On Christmas Eve Day we found Figgy in the nativity scene. O Come Let Us Adore Him!

Our sacrament meeting was really nice and all the kids were involved in multiple musical performances

We had a delicious fondue dinner together

We did sibling gifts that evening, and I was honored that Henry considered me to be one of his siblings ;)

He gave me lots of really thoughtful coupons

Henry loved his gift from Mason, and we have played this game a lot!

Mason really liked the Pokémon he got from Henry

Mason also gave me some really thoughtful coupons

Nixon got some really cool things from Lyza

Including a bear hug

And Lyza got an awesome book and gift card from Nixon

Henry sprinkled some reindeer food on the lawn before bed

And we left some treats out for Santa and his elves

Santa came that evening and stocked up the tree

The kids were up early checking out their boots

The kids then got to open their Santa gifts

A full size weighted blanket

An indoor basketball

Pokémon Lego set

A car track

We got that car track set up right away

We opened up a few more gifts before breakfast

Henry was happy with the gifts he was getting

A very thoughtful card from Mason

There were lots of happy hugs

Beautiful handmade ornaments

New PJs

A Lego set

What could it be?

So happy!

Lyza got some sketching/art supplies

We got hungry and had a delicious breakfast

But Henry got the best breakfast of us all

Playing a new game

What would Christmas be without a giant Toblerone?

My favorite part of Christmas morning is the looks on the kids faces

A replacement gameboy

New Alexas

A remote start for my truck!

Nails

Nixon speaks Wendy's

Just like Henry speaks Hot Wheels

A Harry Potter shirt

A new tablet

I love Mason's reaction opening this gift

This is always so fun

That afternoon we went to the church to play in the gym. Nixon got to break in his new shoes and we played basketball, football, soccer, and four square

We had an awesome Christmas day together!

The next day Nixon got to try out his Wendy's gift card

We have played lots of fun games together over the Christmas break

I went out eagle watching by myself one morning and saw a few eagles

It was a very moody day

These seagulls were fighting over a fish

Another eagle

This spot had much better lighting

This one took off while I was photographing him

That afternoon we met at the church with friends and played games

The kids played games as well and played various sports in the gym

We forgot to get these to Lyza on Christmas day so she got them a couple of days late. One is a cricket and the other has ants.

We went swimming together one day

Mason has had lots of fun building with his Lego

Mason and I played Pokemon Go a couple of times and he even wore his Pikachu costume

More games

Mason even made some games

We watched Home Alone and Home Alone 2 and the kids have so much fun watching those movies

We had a New Years Eve party with friends

The kids had lots of fun ringing in the new year

Kim and the ladies

The calm before the storm

It got VERY loud

Our friend set up some fireworks

And put on a very impressive show

It was a fun evening

Henry had a lot of fun with the confetti after

2023 was a great year for our family. It had its ups and downs but overall it was a hit.

Here are some of the highlights and things we will always remember

Happy New Year!